Editing August Strindberg (section)

===1870s===
Strindberg returned to [[Uppsala University]] in January 1870 to study aesthetics and modern languages and to work on a number of plays.<ref>Meyer (1985), 30.</ref> It was at this time that he first learnt about the ideas of [[Charles Darwin]].<ref>Meyer (1985), 30–2.</ref> He co-founded the Rune Society, a small literary club whose members adopted pseudonyms taken from [[Runic alphabet|runes]] of the ancient [[Teutons|Teutonic]] alphabet – Strindberg called himself [[Freyr|Frö]] (Seed), after the god of fertility.<ref>Meyer (1985, 31). The membership was restricted to a maximum of nine.</ref> After abandoning a draft of a play about [[Eric XIV of Sweden]] halfway through in the face of criticism from the Rune Society, on 30 March he completed a one-act comedy in verse called ''In Rome'' about [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]], which he had begun the previous autumn.<ref>Meyer (1985), 31–2.</ref> The play was accepted by the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre|Royal Theatre]], where it premièred on 13 September 1870.<ref>Meyer (1985), 32.</ref><ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii">Robinson (2009), xvii.</ref> As he watched it performed, he realised that it was not good and felt like drowning himself, though the reviews published the following day were generally favourable.<ref>Meyer (1985, 32–4).</ref> That year he also first read works of [[Søren Kierkegaard]] and [[Georg Brandes]], both of whom influenced him.<ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii" /><ref>Meyer (1985), 34–5.</ref>

[[File:AStrindberg1874.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Portrait of Strindberg in 1874, age 25]]
Taking his cue from [[William Shakespeare]], he began to use colloquial and realistic speech in his historical dramas, which challenged the convention that they should be written in stately verse.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} During the Christmas holiday of 1870–71, he rewrote a historical tragedy, ''Sven the Sacrificer'', as a one-act play in prose called ''[[The Outlaw (play)|The Outlaw]]''.<ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii" /><ref>Meyer (1985), 37.</ref> Depressed by Uppsala, he stayed in Stockholm, returning to the university in April to pass an exam in Latin and in June to defend his thesis on [[Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger]]'s [[Romanticism|Romantic]] [[tragedy]] ''Earl Haakon'' (1802).<ref>Meyer (1985), 38–9.</ref> Following further revision in the summer, ''The Outlaw'' opened at the Royal Theatre on 16 October 1871.<ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii" /><ref>Meyer (1985), 37, 40–1.</ref><ref>''The Outlaw'' was first published in December 1876; see Meyer (1985), 71.</ref> Despite hostile reviews, the play earned him an audience with [[Charles XV of Sweden|King Charles XV]], who supported his studies with a payment of 200 [[Swedish riksdaler|riksdaler]].<ref>Meyer (1985, 41–3). After asking when he could expect the next payment in the spring of 1872, he was informed that it was not a regular arrangement, but was sent one further payment.</ref> Towards the end of the year Strindberg completed a first draft of his first major work, a play about [[Olaus Petri]] called ''[[Master Olof]]''.<ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii" /><ref>Meyer (1985), 43.</ref> In September 1872, the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre|Royal Theatre]] rejected it, leading to decades of rewrites, bitterness, and a contempt for official institutions.<ref>Merriam-Webster (1995), 1074–5.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985, 49).</ref> Returning to the university for what would be his final term in the spring, he left on 2&nbsp;March 1872, without graduating.<ref>Meyer (1985, 43–4).</ref> In ''Town and Gown'' (1877), a collection of short stories describing student life, he ridiculed Uppsala and its professors.<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 73.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985), 70.</ref><ref>Robinson (2009, xviii). Meyer gives the collection's date of publication as December 1876, while Lagercrantz and Robinson give it as December 1877.</ref>

Strindberg embarked on his career as a journalist and critic for newspapers in Stockholm.<ref>Meyer (1985, 44).</ref> He was particularly excited at this time by [[Henry Thomas Buckle]]'s ''History of Civilization'' and the first volume of Georg Brandes' ''Main Currents of Nineteenth-Century Literature''.<ref>Meyer (1985, 46–7).</ref> From December 1874, Strindberg worked for eight years as an assistant librarian at the [[National Library of Sweden|Royal Library]].<ref name="Lagercrantz 1984, 49">Lagercrantz (1984), 49.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985), 53. He was accepted for the position despite not possessing the requisite university degree; it is possible that two articles that had been published in ''The Swedish Citizen'' in March 1874, in which he praised the library and its chief librarian, may have prompted his acceptance. After taking several periods of unpaid leave in 1881–82, he finally resigned from the library on 31 August 1882.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985), 92.</ref> That same month, Strindberg offered ''[[Master Olof]]'' to [[Edvard Stjernström]] (the director of the newly built [[Swedish Theatre (Stockholm)|New Theatre]] in Stockholm), but it was rejected.<ref name="Lagercrantz 1984, 49"/> He socialised with writers, painters, journalists, and other librarians; they often met in the Red Room in [[Berns Salonger|Bern's Restaurant]].<ref name = "Robinson 2009 xvii" /><ref>Meyer (1985), 55–6.</ref>

Early in the summer of 1875, he met [[Siri von Essen]], a 24-year-old aspiring actress who, by virtue of her husband, was a [[baron]]ess – he became infatuated with her.<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 54–58.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985), 57–60. "All his life, Strindberg, while affecting to despise aristocrats, was unwillingly attracted by them." Strindberg in different works gives both late May and June as the date of their first meeting. Siri had performed as an amateur, but her husband did not want her to become a professional.</ref> Strindberg described himself as a "failed author" at this time: "I feel like a deaf-mute," he wrote, "as I cannot speak and am not permitted to write; sometimes I stand in the middle of my room that seems like a prison cell, and then I want to scream so that walls and ceilings would fly apart, and I have so much to scream about, and therefore I remain silent."<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 57.</ref> As a result of an argument in January 1876 concerning the inheritance of the family firm, Strindberg's relationship with his father was terminated (he did not attend his funeral in February 1883).<ref>Lagercrantz (1984, 60–61) and Meyer (1985, 63, 109).</ref> From the beginning of 1876, Strindberg and Siri began to meet in secret, and that same year Siri and her husband divorced.<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 61–3.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985, 63).</ref> Following a successful audition that December, Siri became an actress at the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre|Royal Theatre]].<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 71.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985), 70–2.</ref> They married a year later, on 30 December 1877;<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 69–70.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985, 75).</ref> Siri was seven months pregnant at the time. Their first child was born prematurely on 21 January 1878 and died two days later.<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 75–7.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985, 76).</ref> On 9 January 1879, Strindberg was declared bankrupt.<ref>Lagercrantz (1984), 79.</ref><ref>Meyer (1985, 77).</ref> In November 1879, his novel ''[[The Red Room (Strindberg)|The Red Room]]'' was published.<ref name="Meyer 1985, 79">Meyer (1985, 79).</ref> A satire of Stockholm society, it has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel.<ref name = "Meyer 1985, 79"/> While receiving mixed reviews in Sweden, it was acclaimed in Denmark, where Strindberg was hailed as a genius.<ref>Meyer (1985, 79–80).</ref> As a result of ''The Red Room'', he had become famous throughout Scandinavia.<ref>Meyer (1985), 81.</ref><ref>Robinson (2009, xix).</ref> [[Edvard Brandes]] wrote that the novel "makes the reader want to join the fight against hypocrisy and reaction."<ref>Quoted by Meyer (1985, 84).</ref> In his response to Brandes, Strindberg explained that:

{{blockquote |I am a socialist, a nihilist, a republican, anything that is anti-reactionary!... I want to turn everything upside down to see what lies beneath; I believe we are so webbed, so horribly regimented, that no spring-cleaning is possible, everything must be burned, blown to bits, and then we can start afresh...<ref>Letter to [[Edvard Brandes]], 29 July 1880; quoted by Meyer (1985, 85).</ref>}}